Debugger of an electronic circuit manufactured based on a program in hardware description language

Abstract

A device for debugging an electronic circuit manufactured based on an initial program in hardware description language comprising an instrumentation unit capable of determining a first additional circuit capable of activating a first observation signal representative of the operation of a portion of the electronic circuit corresponding to a determined portion of the initial program, a second additional circuit capable of receiving at least one input signal and of activating a condition signal when a condition on the input signal is fulfilled, a third additional circuit capable of activating a second observation signal when the condition signal is activated, a fourth additional circuit capable of memorizing data representative of the order of activation of the first and second observation signals and capable of providing a modified program incorporating the additional circuits, and a debugging unit capable of debugging a modified electronic circuit manufactured based on the modified program.

Description

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY[0001]This application claims the benefit of French Application No. 04 / 51039, filed May 26, 2004 and is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a device and a method for debugging an electronic circuit described by a program written in a hardware description language or HDL.[0004]2. Discussion of the Related Art[0005]The HDL language is a programming language which has been developed and optimized for the design and the modeling of electronic circuits since it enables accurately describing the behavior of electronic circuits. It is, for example, the VHDL language (for VHSIC Hardware Description Language, with VHSIC standing for Very High Speed Integrated-Circuit), or the Verilog language.[0006]Examples of electronic circuits formed based on HDL programs are Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) circuits or Application Specific Integrated circuits, or ASIC. More specifically, an...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a device and method for debugging an electronic circuit using an initial program in hardware description language, HDL. The device includes an instrumentation unit capable of receiving the initial program and determining a first additional circuit to activate a first observation signal representative of the operation of a portion of the electronic circuit corresponding to a determined portion of the initial program. The device also includes a second additional circuit to receive an input signal and activate a condition signal when a condition on the input signal is fulfilled during the operation of the electronic circuit. A third additional circuit is capable of activating a second observation signal when the condition signal is activated. A fourth additional circuit is capable of memorizing data representative of the order of activation of the first and second observation signals. The device also includes a modified program in HDL language based on the initial program and a debugging unit capable of interacting with the modified program to bug the electronic circuit. The method involves determining a first additional circuit to activate a first observation signal, a second additional circuit to receive an input signal and activate a condition signal, and a third additional circuit to activate a second observation signal. The method also involves providing a modified program in HDL language based on the initial program and manufacturing a modified electronic circuit based on the modified program. The device and method make it easier to bug electronic circuits and improve code coverage during testing."

Problems solved by technology

Such an analysis can be excessively complex, all the more if the electronic circuit itself is complex.

However, such a debugger, being purely code-oriented, does not enable building complex verification scenarios based on the values of the signals used by the FPGA circuit.

The absence of a tool of logic analyzer type can make the detection of certain errors upon operation of the FPGA circuit or the determination of the origin of certain detected errors difficult.

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